Scrooged (1988)

Niagara Falls

By Jeffrey M. Anderson

Bill Murray is the one of the greatest screen Scrooges in this 1980s updating, which features the funniest and most callous Christmas Special spoof ever filmed ("The Night the Reindeer Died"). He plays Frank Cross, television producer who plans a very expensive, live "Christmas Carol" production on Christmas Eve. He has stepped over everyone to get ahead, and this year three ghosts visit him to get him back on track again. This meta-element is never fully explored, the film is very messy and somewhat violent, wobbling between outright terror and gooey sentimentality, but it works because of the crisp, high-powered corporate feel and the very impressive cast, including Karen Allen as Frank's freckled love, Robert Mitchum as an older executive, Alfre Woodard as Frank's secretary and the mother of the "Tiny Tim" character, Carol Kane and David Johansen as the ghosts, plus tons of other familiar faces. Murray, in particular, gives one of his finest comic performances. Regardless of the sheer excess, it's hard not to be moved by his final transformation. Look out for Miles Davis and Paul Schaffer as street musicians. How cool is that?